Welcome

The Center of Geoscience and the Institute of Geology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; UNAM) are hosting the 108th meeting of the GSA Cordilleran Section in Querétaro, Mexico, at Hotel Misión Juriquilla.

Hotel Misión Juriquilla occupies the main building of an eighteenth-century hacienda and includes large patios, two restaurants, a pool, and a spa. A variety of restaurants and bars are located within walking distance of the hotel.

Cordilleran Section, GSA
108th Annual Meeting

29-31 March 2012

SETTING

Geology does not stop at the U.S. border. Mexico, the United States, and Canada share the same tectonic plate and also face similar environmental and resource problems. In an effort to promote a more active communication among geologists from the three countries, the 108th meeting of the GSA Cordilleran Section is being held in Querétaro, central Mexico, at Hotel Misión Juriquilla.

Querétaro lies at the crossroads of three main geologic provinces: the Neogene Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, the mid-Tertiary Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province, and the Cretaceous-Paleocene Sierra Madre Oriental fold-thrust belt. The urban area occupies a continental basin bounded by the intersection of two late Tertiary extensional fault systems affecting late Miocene and early Pliocene volcanic rocks. Classic fossils sites with Hemphillian to Blancan vertebrate fauna are located only 25-30 miles to the north.

Mexico is a key region for understanding the geologic evolution of North America as well as an important tectonic element that interacted with South America and the Caribbean. The meeting will focus on the advances in the geology of the Southern Cordillera, including such topics as silicic magmatism, rifting of the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico, the Laramide fold and thrust belt, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Middle America subduction zone, and Caribbean interaction with North and South America. The meeting will also host a symposium on the Amalgamation and Breakup of Pangea (IGCP Project 597), along with an array of applied theme sessions on water management, soils subsidence and fracturing, ore geology, and geothermics.

LOCATION

Querétaro is a modern industrial city built around a beautiful colonial center. It is located in the geographic center of country, ~140 miles northwest of Mexico City. It has direct flights from Texas and a direct shuttle bus connects Mexico City’s airport to Queretaro’s bus station. The city is considered the safest place in Mexico.

The colonial city of San Miguel de Allende, the Bernal peak and the Ezequiel Montes vineyards are within 45 minutes driving.